


perhaps it's hard for myself to even believe it yet

by April (featherx)



Series: but in the end I will always come back to you [14]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Business, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 15:12:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10619550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/featherx/pseuds/April
Summary: Junmyeon takes an interest in one his employees. (CEO!Suho AU)





	

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to C, you know the drill.

“Who wrote this report? I like it, it’s neat,” Junmyeon remarks, sifting through the small pile of papers on his desk. Or maybe ‘small’ is being a bit kind. It’s more like a volcano erupted prematurely but instead of fire, papers came out.

Sehun glances dispassionately at the report. “Robinson,” he says, after a short beat. “Do you know her? She’s one of the newer employees, but she works harder than some of the seniors here.”

“Oh,” Junmyeon says, because he doesn’t know what else there is to say. Robinson. The name is a bit familiar, but it doesn’t bring to mind a face, so he supposes she really _must_ be that new if he can’t remember her much at all. “Well, she seems to be doing nicely. Good for her that she can work up the energy to make nice reports these days, anyway.”

“Truly, the grandpa needs some resting time,” Sehun mutters. Junmyeon’s almost tempted to throw Robinson’s report at his head, but after a moment of contemplation, he decides it’s not worth getting the papers dirty. _It is, after all_ , he notes, slipping the files back in their folder, _a very good report._

And it would have been fine if things had just kept going that way, but then a week later Junmyeon raises a file over his head. “Who made this? The statistics are nicely precise,” he comments.

He’s not expecting anything until Sehun replies, voice flat, “Robinson.”

“Oh,” he says again. “Really?”

“Yes, Myeoni, really.” Sehun takes a look at the other reports, flicking through the papers with no real interest in the contents. He raises an eyebrow at one that looks like it has a coffee stain on it. “This is the second time you’ve asked. Have you ever even seen her face yet?”

“Not yet,” Junmyeon says proudly. Sehun stares at him in utter bewilderment until Junmyeon draws up a list of employees on his laptop. “What’s her first name? R… R… Robinson…”

“It’s Maxine Robinson.” Sehun looks over at his laptop screen, blinking at her ID picture, all smiles and sunshine and whatnot. At least, that’s what Junmyeon sees. Vaguely, he wonders if she’s still going to be smiles and sunshine after another few weeks of working in a business as high-strung as this. “What? Crushing on her yet? Or is she going to be a rebound?”

Junmyeon rolls his eyes and closes the file. “Don’t say that.” He draws the report up again, looking through all the carefully typed letters. What kind of hands does this Ms. Robinson have, he thinks? Are they smooth, small, with neatly filed and manicured nails dusted with the slightest of tasteful nail polish? He thinks he wouldn’t mind that.

“Myeoni,” Sehun says, and Junmyeon shakes himself out of that strange thought process. “I’ve to get back to work, but if you’re content with staring at that report for another couple of days, be my guest, CEO-man.” He waltzes out of the room like some arrogant snake, except snakes can’t waltz. Junmyeon sighs and slips the report into a drawer.

Yet another time, Junmyeon asks, “I like the way she drew out the graphs. Who made this one?”

“‘She,’ Myeoni? I think you know already,” Sehun muses, too busy playing some game on his phone to give a better answer.

Junmyeon shrugs, because Sehun’s right anyway, and stares at the report some more. Did Ms. Robinson stare at her work like this, too, or did she simply settle down and get everything done and over with, like a role model employee? It’s sort of hot, Junmyeon thinks, until he immediately rids that thought from his head. Unhealthy. This weird obsession is becoming _unhealthy_ , and he probably needs to stop it until he starts imagining other things about her—

“Why are you blushing all of a sudden, huh?” Sehun inquires, not sounding very curious. When Junmyeon stammers out a couple of half-words that could possibly pass for a reply, Sehun shakes his head. “Never mind! I already know. Good luck with those hormones, Myeoni, you might accidentally draw different girls in with them.”

Junmyeon’s too busy filing the report in a drawer to reply, but he does wonder if he can find some time to wander the office on a not-so-busy day and introduce himself to Maxine Robinson. He thinks that would be a pretty good use of his time, anyway.

It’s almost a shock when she introduces herself first.

On a hot summer day, where all the employees are complaining about the weather and mass-buying soda from the convenience store across the street, Sehun takes Junmyeon down to the office cubicles for a walk. Junmyeon knows Sehun really just wants to get away from all the boring paperwork and slack off a little, but he needs to look like he’s doing something anyway, just so the other lower employees won’t spread rumors. Junmyeon has a feeling they do enough of that already, but he doesn’t mention it to Sehun. Maybe the kid just wants a false sense of security in the office.

Then he bumps into a rushing employee, and a stack of papers go flying from their arms. There’s a little scream and Junmyeon very nearly trips and falls, but Sehun manages to steady him before he loses what little dignity he has. “Watch it,” Sehun says to the employee, but Junmyeon raises a hand to stop him.

The employee’s frantically bowing and repeating _I’m sorry_ again and again, fidgeting with the papers all around on the floor. Junmyeon blinks, and says, “Can you raise your head?”—and when the employee does look up, Junmyeon nearly trips and falls again, because _my God! Maxine Robinson._

She’s more frowns and rainstorms than smiles and sunshine at the moment, though, and she almost looks like she’s going to cry. “I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault, I wasn’t looking, please don’t fire me, sir!” She says, all in one breath, her voice getting higher and more desperate at the end of her sentence.

Junmyeon just blinks. He has absolutely no idea what to do and he probably looks really dumb right now but he just _doesn’t know what to do_ and with the way the entire office is staring at them, he’s starting to wonder if he should just make a break for it and run for the exit doors.

Instead, he says, “No, it’s fine,” and then, pointing at the papers, “Do you want me to help?”

He can almost hear the office’s collective gasp, including that of Maxine’s. Sehun just looks tired, like he doesn’t get paid enough for this. “No—No, no, it’s perfectly fine, I-I’ve got this!” Maxine assures, and Junmyeon is almost willing to believe her, right up until she trips over smooth tiles and crashes against the floor painfully.

“You don’t look perfectly fine,” Junmyeon points out, perhaps a bit needlessly. Maxine bites down on her lip, like she’s holding back from saying something, and pushes herself up from the floor. Before he even knows what he’s doing, though, Junmyeon steps forward and offers her a hand. “Come on, I can help. Really, half of the mess is my fault.”

Maxine stares at his offered hand. A couple dozen employees squeal somewhere in the distance. Then, very hesitantly, she takes it, and squeaks helplessly when Junmyeon pulls her up. She’s not heavy at all, but what Junmyeon notices most is that her hand is rougher and bigger than he’d thought it’d be, and there’s not a hint of color on her nails. Somehow, he realizes that he doesn’t exactly mind. “Um,” Maxine stutters, “thank you. Sir.”

“It’s… no problem,” Junmyeon replies. There is a short moment of awkward silence where the both of them do absolutely nothing except stare at each other while Sehun has his face buried in his hands in exasperation behind them. Eventually, Junmyeon bends down to gather up some of the papers in his hands. “You need help with this,” he says firmly, “so I’ll help you. Alright?”

“If – If you say so, sir,” Maxine manages, crouching down to slip the papers in a folder. Junmyeon politely looks away. She’s wearing a pencil skirt, really, is she _that_ ridiculous that she forgot she was wearing a skirt?

That leads to Junmyeon looking down at the papers – and instead of reports or whatever, he realizes that they look like notes. _Incredibly_ messy notes, they look like the notes of a stressed out high-school student and not the notes of an employee that had slowly been making her way up on his favorite employee list. There are side-comments in every paragraph, most of them along the lines of, “why is this happening to me,” “dear God did a devil possess me while I was writing this?” and, “Chesqa better come back with some soju before 1am or I’m stabbing myself.”

“Are these notes for your reports?” Junmyeon asks, because he can’t help himself.

Maxine looks up, eyes still wide as if she’s been on-guard this whole time gathering papers. When her eyes actually land on the paper Junmyeon’s holding, though, they get even wider, until Junmyeon’s genuinely concerned for her eyes’ well-being. “T-Those are – uh – well, really, they’re just—”

“They’re nice,” Junmyeon interrupts, because he has a feeling that Maxine would keep going if he doesn’t. “Really. No wonder your reports are always my favorites.”

Maxine shuts up for a little while, a mad blush overcoming her features. “Thank you,” she manages, voice trembling a bit, “uh – sir.”

Junmyeon hands her the papers and when Maxine accepts with a smile more genuine than the one on her ID picture, Junmyeon thinks he doesn’t mind seeing that smile a little more often. Even if he does have to bump into her several more times for it to happen – it’s probably worth it, anyway.

And the next time they see each other, Junmyeon wonders, maybe he can ask her out for some soju or something. She obviously likes that.


End file.
